WALL, DONALD DALE

Professor Donald Dale Wall, PHD, husband, father, grandfather, and lifelong historian, died on May 17, 2020, in Denver, Colorado. Don died from pneumonia as a result of COVID-19. He was 86 years old. Don was born on December 7, 1933, at his family’s dairy farm in Brighton, Colorado. He was the last of John Christian and Thekla Louise Barthel Wall’s six children: Harlan, Norma (Hahn), Maurice, Eileen (Meehl), Lester, and Donald. When Don was a boy, the family moved to a smaller farm in Hudson, Colorado, where descendants of the John Wall family still live today. Don graduated with honors from Brighton High School in 1951, then attended Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska, where he studied history, German, music, and teaching. He received his Master’s degree from Depaul University in 1959 and earned his PHD in history from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1969. In 1966, after researching for a year in Germany on a Fulbright scholarship, he took a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-eau Claire. Here he met Carrie Jean Higley, a nurse and Eau Claire native who stole his heart. The two wed in Eau Claire on June 8, 1968, and were happily married for nearly 52 years. They moved to Colorado in 1969 when Don began teaching history at Metropolitan State College (now Metropolitan State University of Denver), a position he held until his retirement in 2002. By 1975 the couple had grown to a family of four, with son Matthew and daughter Elizabeth. Don was a historian by nature and profession. He had an intrinsic memory for dates and events and an astounding breadth of knowledge. His area of focus was World War II, the Holocaust, and Nazi Germany. He was respected as a leader in his field by his colleagues, publishing a textbook on the subject, giving interviews, and receiving prestigious grants. But it was his ability to convey the magnitude, intricacies, humanity, and enduring relevance of this subject to his students that truly set him apart as a professor. Don loved to laugh and his home was filled with humor. He adored classical music, but also loved to play boogies on the piano and old cowboy tunes on the guitar, and he delighted in singing the complicated lyrics of Gilbert and Sullivan songs. He could perform charming renditions of radio jingles from his childhood and, in high school and college, was one half of a comedic duo that would perform skits and songs (often in a multitude of accents) at school events. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of hymns, playing the piano and organ at church and directing the choir. Don was a man of great character and great Christian faith. His religion was one of love, forgiveness, responsibility, and acceptance and Don treated everyone with compassion and respect. His gentle and easy-going spirit will be held in the hearts of his wife, Carrie, his children, Matthew (Kristen Jensen) and Elizabeth (Nicholas Kroehl), and his sister, Eileen Meehl. He will be fondly remembered as Papa W by his two grandchildren, Harlow and Dexter, and often thought of by his many brothers- and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, friends, and colleagues. Memorial donations in Don’s name can be made to refurbish the pipe organ at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 700 S. Franklin Street, Denver, CO, 80209. A more detailed biography and forthcoming memorial service details can be found online at Allstatescremation.com/.